Board authorizes preschool painting amid consolidation, encumbrance pushes total above $100,000

Fountain Hills Unified School trustees authorized additional painting work for the Little Falcons preschool as part of ongoing consolidation work, after staff said the contractor currently finishing work at McDowell Mountain would need to do the preschool rooms and that the final encumbrance will exceed $100,000.

District staff described a time-sensitive need: classrooms must be set up for a licensing visit on July 15, and teachers requested painted rooms two days earlier. The director said the district moved ‘‘11,000 boxes’’ during consolidation and is operating with a small staff, arguing that completing the preschool painting while the contractor is on site would avoid later rework.

Board members discussed bid details and per-square-foot pricing. The middle-school bid covered roughly 208,000 square feet and equated to about $0.50 per square foot when materials and equipment are included; labor-only line items were noted at $0.25 per square foot. Some board members urged a not-to-exceed per-square-foot cap; staff said the contractor’s full-bid components (paint, primer, lifts) make the total higher than labor-only figures.

After debate, the board approved authorizing the additional preschool painting work and asked staff to seek a unit price similar to the middle-school rate if possible; the presiding officer instructed that the board be notified immediately if the final bid differs from the authorized amount.

Board members recorded differing views on setting a strict per-square-foot cap, but the board prioritized completing work before the licensing deadline to avoid moving rooms twice. Staff said the contractor’s previously quoted amount for the larger project was about $99,899 and estimated the preschool portion would be roughly $20,000–$25,000, which together would push the encumbrance over $100,000.